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Space Railroad

Posted by michael on from the little-station-that-could dept.

Pig Hogger writes "Nasa will launch the first space railroad in April. The one-car train will run at speeds as high as 100 meters per hour (relative to the space station) or 27 megameters per hour (relative to the Earth)."

8 of 25 comments (clear)

  1. schedules... by NaturePhotog · · Score: 3, Funny

    Let's hope they get Deutsche Bahn to keep it on schedule, rather than Amtrak. Any anybody besides British Railways to keep it on track...

    1. Re:schedules... by The+Mayor · · Score: 2

      Oh, I've got quite a bit of experience with the British rail system as well as with Amtrak. Yes, the UK rail system has had problems in the past year. These problems are embarassing, especially when comparing it to other European rail systems. But it is still miles ahead of Amtrak (unless you live in the northeast US, where Amtrak is basically a commuter line). In my experiences, any Amtrak trip that takes more than about 5 hours is guaranteed to be at least 1 day late. Yes, 1 day. Not 1 hour. And not because of worker strikes. It's just sheer incompetence, coupled with a lack of investment on maintaining lines. Yes, Amtrak is still the king of poor rail service.

      --
      --Be human.
  2. Silly by Account+10 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What a silly comparision.

    If I'm walking in the ISS then I'm moving v.fast relative to the earth.
    Hell, If I'm standing still on the ISS then I'm still moving v.fast relative to the earth.
    Even if I'm dead and buried on Earth I'm moving v.v.fast relative to the center of the galaxy.

    It isn't anything to get very excited about ... hey Mum, look at me I'm moving at 0.99c relative to something

  3. Grrr...100 _yards_ per hour! by joshuac · · Score: 2, Insightful

    one-car train will run at speeds as high as 100 meters per hour (relative to the space station) or 27 megameters per hour (relative to the Earth)."

    Ok, besides the "27 megameters per hour!" silliness, a quick look at the actual article states the rate of travel Imperial Units, _not_ metric:

    on this railway will have a top speed of only 300 feet per hour, but the entire line -- tracks and all -- will travel almost nine

    100 Meters per hour does not equal 100 Yards per hour. Getting your measurement units right doesn't seem like a big thing, but it really really is important, especially in engineering situations. It's like "O" and "0" in a computer character set; they appear similar, but are completely different. Try doing things with ASCII value $4F where $30 was intended will lead to completely different results, all over something that seemed trivial.

    Same with getting your measurement units right. It's important. Use the wrong ASCII character, and your program crashes; uses the wrong measurement units, your probe crashes.

    1. Re:Grrr...100 _yards_ per hour! by david+duncan+scott · · Score: 2

      Alright, so a meter is 39.37" instead of 36". Big whoop. We're reading about the damned thing, not driving it. What are the odds that it actually travels at perxactly 300 fph? I've got a buck says that's a rounded figure anyway, quite likely rounded from 100 meters per hour (since I would also guess that the ISS is metric, what with the "I" and all.)

      --

      This next song is very sad. Please clap along. -- Robin Zander

    2. Re:Grrr...100 _yards_ per hour! by The+Mayor · · Score: 2

      Yes, and in many engineersing situations there is sufficient tolerance to handle 10% variations from spec. *Real* engineers are aware of specifications, knowing that real world parts vary from the specs. And they design around it.

      I think 100m is close enough to 300ft that I will do the same conversion (and, yes, I actually am an engineer) in casual conversation, or on stories to slashdot. For God's sake, haven't you seen the spelling and grammar on Slashdot? With the English language being slaughtered so badly, you've got the nerve to complain about a 10% variance in a conversion from metric to Imperial? And then you try to act like you're some expert engineer? Get a life. Sorry for being so harsh, but your message really rubbed me the wrong way.

      Oh, and for the record, the *exact* conversion from metric to Imperial is 2.54cm 1 inch. By definition.

      --
      --Be human.
    3. Re:Grrr...100 _yards_ per hour! by geekoid · · Score: 2

      and along those same lines, do you rant at whomever posts an english correction?
      Nobody that matters paid any attention to the post, because they know about varience.
      man, I hate to see you use "big" measurements. 300 Kilometers an hour, 300 miles an hours, close enough.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  4. Now It Can Truly Be Said About ISS... by cybrpnk · · Score: 2

    "...this is no way to run a railroad!"